Mental
by Rice Buny
Summary: Ciel and Lelouch; both peculiar boys imprisoned in an uncharted insane asylum, slowly submitting in the hands of insanity. Sometimes, life hits rock bottom. And sometimes-and only sometimes will it get better. But let's be honest-it's not as though one would expect their lives to return to normal after all those years of confinement, right? Then, Kallen appears. [no pairings]
1. Chapter 1

I own nothing from Kuroshitsuji or Code Geass.

* * *

"No!" His jaw working in indignation, the former prince refuses to meet the eyes of the younger boy shackled beside him. "That's the worst idea I've ever heard, and once, my cousin thought gumdrops rained from the sky." A clink alerts Lelouch, and his eyes shifting to the side, he notes how Ciel shifts into a more comfortable position, hugging his bare legs to his chest.

In such a melancholy building, the two of them has to become creative, in their own way, imagining ideas to escape this horrid place, only for the other to quickly shoot it down. Which is quite a challenge, as the two of them have quite the brain, and neither has concocted such an idea that the other would approve or find decent enough to even perform.

Welcome to the insane asylum, where the smartest minds are left to submit into insanity.

Lelouch was obviously granted into his father's asylum first. Lelouch knows for sure that the main reason why he's even chained to the cement walls with corroding shackles and behind bars is because his father highly dislikes him after he refused to obey his rules after sending off his younger sister because of her disabilities. Lelouch knows, he _knows_ that his father is definitely the one who assassinated his mother because of her common background. Besides, who would want a prince, who's nearly unbeatable in any brain teaser and has an open mind that he might change the ways of Britannia as he often sympathizes with Elevens, to become king? Clearly none of his siblings. So instead, by the age of twelve, he's left reality, and into this hell. No doubt about it his father probably conjured a story that leads to his death, when in reality, he's weak and underfed, sitting on the surprisingly pristine, polished cement floor, his wrists blemished with bruises and swelling red from the chains that are too tight on his stick-like wrists.

And then there's Ciel, another possible threat towards his father's empire. There are times when Lelouch would question what gotten such a bright kid chained here along with him, but anytime he inquires or dog him for a question, he'd clam up, refusing to answer directly, and if he did decide to respond, his replies are vague and uncertain.

Lelouch recalls when he first saw Ciel. He's startled by such a young boy, who he thought was actually younger by his unimpressive height, lead in, his body quivering and legs buckling, yet, the way he glares at his surroundings and the guards that slam the iron door on them, seems to help the radiation of confidence that surrounds him. His azure eye narrowed into a harsh glare, with his other orchid pupil, similar to the hue of Lelouch's eye, with a watermark imprint, swiveling to meet his eye. And here they are now, partners with only each other as their condolences, often bickering, sizing each other up, finding their only source of enjoyment in sharing ideas that often lead to inevitable capture or death.

"You know, escaping would be so much easier if we had our hands unchained," Lelouch mutters, crossing his legs, shivering slightly, implying that it's probably a colder season. After more than five years of having this hellhole as his home, he's grown quite accustomed to the ever-changing temperature, along with the loneliness that often occupies his heart.

And little by little...and both of them know...that pretty soon...insanity will strike their vulnerable minds, despite their many years of clutching desperately onto their last shred of humanity. Ciel also seems to sense the cold, as his fragile body curls upwards into a fetal position, his chains that are bolted to the wall clinking, as he nuzzles his visage onto his knobby knees. Lelouch is aware of Ciel's delicate condition, especially after him hacking out his lungs, his body heaving, with bile retched out onto the floor, that he definitely has some sort of medical condition, which happens to be asthma. Of course, it's not as though the guards who constantly (and poorly) cares for them bothered to offer extra warmth towards the younger boy, and instead, they're rather annoyed by Ciel's constant vomiting. Every time Ciel upchucks his previous, small meal (usually his bile is watery and always in a liquid state as he doesn't have enough solid components from the lack of food) the guards will often end up pissed that they have to clean up the vomit as it often emits a horrible odor that even they can't stand, so instead, they relied on threatening Ciel with a punch or a kick, warning him to not puke. So Lelouch, without asking, shuffles closer to the younger boy, and quite reluctantly, Ciel snuggles closer as well. It's as not as though Lelouch emits much warmth, but at least it's something. The thick walls often also keep out most of the cold, however, not enough.

The two of them have to share everything: food, warmth, words, thoughts, everything, to prevent themselves or the other to end up crazy. Lelouch has to be honest, without the young young boy's existence, he'd probably be driven into insanity, after all, holding conversations with himself and trying to humor such a logical and rational brain such as his is quite crazy itself, at least talking to Ciel means he's not completely cut off from everyone. And with the two of them, they split their meals, which often leaves behind an oily residue that slicks down his throat uncomfortably despite it being rather dry, cautious to make the portions for both of them completely fair, as often, one of their plates hold a larger amount of food than the other, just by a little. The two also have to trade thoughts, just to make sure they're still capable of thinking normally.

* * *

How can so much change within an year? The way that Lelouch talks, is quite scary. He recalls last year, when he'd be conversing smartly with Lelouch, plotting stupid ideas, making sure to crush them, just so their hopes don't raise. Hope is for suckers-Ciel refuses to allow himself to fall into false fate that he'll ever be able to leave this prison. By now, Lelouchisn't... _Lelouch_. His words are no longer counted as intelligible, despite them holding a great amount of reason behind them. No doubt about it, the boy, who's been here longer than he has, has fallen into the hands of bloodlust. The way he snarls at the guard despite the obviously lower status than theirs, along with the hungry gleam that settled over his glassy wine colored eyes, the way he glowers at just about everything that moves, is scary. Ciel refuses to admit his fear for his acquaintance...and pretty soon, his fear slides away. Just about any specks of humanity leeches away from them, and Ciel, without even knowing so, is drained of any emotions that remained in him the moment he stepped into this building with his two bare, calloused soles.

Even just remembering the memory of the flames that lick the sides of his mansion, the way that the fire consumes the crumpled bodies of his parents along with the ringing howls of his deceased pet, along with the screams and shouts that drowns him with the smoke and embers that cloud his vision, causing tears to stream unrestricted out of his dilated eyes. Even the way his throat is ripped raw from screaming and inhaled ash, the helplessness that consumes him was worse. And the way he was locked up in a prison, similar to this, was just as bad.

And now...just recalling those memories...doesn't even faze him.

The physcopath and sociopath, one boiling with blood lust and the other dull and lifeless, shackled beside each other, both has fallen down a rabbit hole where they cannot climb out.

* * *

Euphemia gnaws her bottom lip, cringing as Clovis is lectured strongly by Schneizel. Even though the charismatic blonde is often polite, and has not yet raised his voice as he towered over Clovis, chastising him with a scornful tone. She dislikes how her family must have all these petty arguments. Why can they not get along? A lump forms within her slender throat as she remembers when they were younger, and would playfully tumble in the grass only to be chided by their mother for dirtying their crisp uniforms with grass stains, and the way nobody would question them as they'd plait each other's pink hair, with Clovis and another brother cause mischief. She grimaces. The memories of her childhood bothers her, the way two younger kids would always appear in her memories, yet, they disappeared. She once questioned her sister, inquiring curiously about an ebony haired boy with narrowed violet eyes who'd stir trouble with the staff with his partner in crime: Clovis, along with the bubbly younger female with an animated expression always plastered on her face, with two, wide lavender eyes glistening adoration towards the mysterious boy, her toffee hair often pulled into pigtails. Then, one day, these two kids disappeared when she was five, perhaps. And they didn't come back, no matter how much she wished for them.

By now, she has forgotten the majority of information she has upon those two, even their christened names, and Cornelia or any other family member wouldn't answer, and if they did, mentioned that they were an old friend. However, she often notes how Clovis, the weak link of the people she'd ask, who fidgets uncomfortably and probably unconsciously whenever he's placed in an undesirable situation, would avert his eyes, knotting his lips in distaste, as though the words he tell her are sour, implying that he's lying. Something happened with those two kids, and Euphemia finally came to realization she cannot help them, as throughout around ten years of her life, she still has not gathered information about them.

A shout causes her to stiffen, and her spine arches as she's suddenly startled out the thoughts she was immersed within, to find Cornelia has entered the room, her heels muffled across the velvet carpet, as she groups herself into the spat between the two brothers. Sighing, Euphemia slides out of the room, going unnoticed by her older siblings.

* * *

So, basically, if you didn't get it already, Lelouch is placed in an insane asylum after he was acting disobedient towards his father, being a danger as he has ideas of changing the way Britannia works after Nunnally was 'killed' for being disabled and blind. Is Nunnally dead? Who knows. Not me, because I haven't thought that far.

And Euphemia remembers a bit of Nunnally and Lelouch, but not that much.

Then there's Ciel, yes, from Kuroshitsuji, who's also in the insane asylum for reasons that I will not tell you. Yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Yeah. HI. So, I don't have any pairings. You can comment if you want any.

* * *

"That's what I'm here for," Kallen proclaims, pinching the brim of her hat, and lifting it slightly. She jerks the wheel to the left, only for her brother to quickly reach towards the control panel.

"Kallen, shit, stop!" Startled, Kallen doesn't automatically brake, rather, upon seeing the reckless kid who stumbles onto the road, in the path she's taking, she yanks the wheel to the right, causing the whole truck with the stolen shipment to quickly lurch sideways, nearly tipping over, drawing a string of swears out of Naoto's parted lips. She swallows a scream as the truck lumbers in the said direction, narrowly avoiding the dog. However, the large vehicle doesn't stop as it hit the road signs, and instead, the truck flips straight off the cliff. "Kallen!" The said girl screams, as her brother follows her example, as the truck flies through the air after falling off the cliff when she veered off course. Her hat topples off as the truck does multiple somersaults, and she clutches the leather belt that straps against her chest for safety, slamming the temple of her head against the dashboard of the truck, as darkness engulfs her.

* * *

"N-Naoto?" the throbbing pain is what forces her out of unconsciousness. Blearily gazing through her bobbing vision, something warm and wet trickling down the side of her face, gluing her eyelashes together. She forces her eyelids apart, blinking rapidly to focus her vision, only to nearly have a heartattack. The window of the truck shattered, sending loose fragments of glass still dangling from the remainder of the windowpane around the vehicle's window frame. The top of a tree has puncture straight through the truck's roof after entering through the broken window. The truck is basically stabbed vertically through the tree, like a popsicle stick. And she's currently in the truck, staring downwards, and if she falls out of her seat, and through the shattered window, she'll face plant onto the ground.

She could've fallen right out the window, and down the tree, dying the moment she comes in contact with the ground. And the only thing that's preventing her from doing just that...is her seatbelt. At that thought, she fists the leather strap, and fearful that she might slide out of the belt, she plants her feet against the car's dashboard, propping herself upwards.

The car creaks downwards, and she shamefully emits a high-pitched yelp, trembling. "Naoto?" she slowly cranes her head over, fearful that if she inclines her head too sharply or fast, it'll cause the truck to go crashing down. A limp body is belted in beside her, and fear consumes her. Even the mental fear that her brother might be dead, is even more painful than the pulsing of her head. She flinches at that thought-she definitely slammed her head against something. Noting the crusty dried, crimson blood splattered in one spot of the plastic steering wheel implies that there's the target where her forehead decided to smack against. "Naoto!" she screeches, her voice ricocheting in the air, dying out. It doesn't stir the boy.

 _He could be just unconscious,_ she thinks nervously, disregarding the option that he simply could be dead. She juts her sore leg out forward, before shifting slightly to the right, cringing as the truck creaks as she shifts her momentum, and she prods her brother's side with the tip of her boots. Then, losing patience, she just kicks him. His head flies up for a second-only a glimpse she caught, and yet, that dreaded feeling that stirred in her stomach causes bile to lump itself in her throat. She swallows the said lump, the remains scalding the back of her throat.

She saw it. She saw a glass shard, jutting straight out her brother's forward, blood staining the clear fragment. Scorching tears streak down her visage. Her brother's dead. And it's because she decided to dumbly steer the truck to the left, off the cliff. And now, her brother's dead by glass shard. With fumbling fingers, her body trembling from fear and shock, her mind still fuzzy and her head painful and throbbing, she unlatches the belt, yelping as she nearly falls straight forward, and down. Instead, she climbs back, and over her seat. She cranks the door that separates the passenger and driver's seat from the cargo in the back, revealing the supposedly toxic gas filled in a container. The contain, bolted to the floor [just go with it], is cracked open. She gasps, however, she's unable to scrabble towards it, as the whole truck's angle refuses to allow her to break physics and just walk up to it and study it. Where's the gas? Did it escape into the surrounding woods? Never mind that.

Her first mission is to get off the freaking truck. However, with her uncooperative body strength that's weakened from the fall, and her traumatized state, she's unsure if she can actually scale down the tree-if she can actually exit the vertical angled truck first-without falling, which would honestly be a miracle, she's unsure whether or not this can be accomplished. However, she has to try. She glares upwards. Scarlet, yellow and darker hues of those colors along with black highlight the sky. It's definitely going to get dark soon, and she doesn't want to be trapped in the forest in the dark.

Wait, no, there's a simple solution. She rifles on the ground, ignoring the small fragments of glass from the shattered window pane, only to retrieve a snapped, severed cord. Okay, no, there's no radio to contact Ohgi. _This is just getting better,_ she thinks dryly, her temper and impatience-along with an abundant amount of concern-flares inside of her. Fine. Guess she has to follow her original plan.

* * *

 _Don't you freaking let go,_ Kallen chides herself as she inhales sharply and respires slowly. After having her jacket snagged and her stomach grazed by the glass that hadn't broken off the bottom of the truck's main window frame, and basically having millions of heart-attacks, she finally crawled onto the thick bark of the tree, latching on for dear life. Finally, she slowly lowers herself onto a branch sprout. She glances down. Oh God. She's really, _really_ high up. This is going to be a long day.

* * *

The moment her feet hit the ground, she literally doubles over, the frigid air swirling around her. She peers upwards, to see the metal truck, almost the size of her palm because of the distance between her and the vehicle, and she ashen at the thought of climbing such heights. Well, there's definitely no way to find her way back up the cliff. Not in the dark at least. It took her the remainder of the evening to scale down the tree.

She slowly trudges through the woods, the darkness strengthening her panorama. The only sound other than the common rustle are her boots crunching against the crisp leaves that littered the moist ground. She exhales loudly, as though the sound of her voice could calm her. It sadly doesn't. Then, a towering building, which she had overlooked as it blended in with the vegetation and background, the dim lighting obscuring the building from her view. Relief, which only appeared twice-the first time when she finally clambered down the tall tree, and the second time, now, as the building takes shape. Giddy from excitement, she runs towards the building, not even hesitating, until finally, she slows down. Maybe inside of the building there's a cellular device which she can call one Ohgi from.

She slowly circles the building, before finding the actual door, which was hard in the darkness with only the clouded moon to deliver light, and also because the door had the same, grayish, slightly rusted hue as the rest of the building. The cold, steel doorknob is bolted lower on the door. She jiggles it. Locked, well, of course. She peers upwards. There it is. Attached to the building's wall, above the door frame is a security camera. So this place is inhabited. She raps her knuckles on the door, and judging by the way it rattles, it's clearly flimsy, yet, she doesn't suspect that it's still highly strong, despite the way it rattles.

"Hello?" Kallen chokes, her voice wheezing from the lack of use. Finally, the door opens, revealing a towering man, armed. Oh. A soldier. "Uh, hello, I got lost in the woods," she begins, acting as though she's weak and frail, the normal guise she uses at the school her brother forced for her to attend. Her brother. She disregards that thought.

"Ugh, girl, how'd you get down here?" the man scoffs. "You know a green-haired girl?" Kallen blinks, her eyebrows scrunching together. Green haired girl? "Judging by your expression, no. Well, come in," he sighs, as though tired by her presence. Slightly bristling from his rude welcome, she storms in, slamming the door behind her, however, she doesn't want to seem ungrateful. "So lemme guess, you need to stay here for the night?"

"Oh, actually, I have some relatives, who I'm sure can come pick me up," she reassures. "May I borrow your phone?"

"Yeah, we have one in the office," he nods, and with an inclination of his head, he implies for her to follow. They walk through a door, before entering a rather organized and pristine room, which seems out of place in such a grimy, awkwardly located place.

Wait. Why is this building here? She rolls her eyes. Britannians. Complete idiots. "So what is this place?" However, if this place was meant to be hidden, why is it so close to town? Or maybe she is deep in the woods-she can't really tell. Maybe they are hidden inside the depths of the forest, which would suck for her. She doesn't have any calculations on their location.

"Here," thanking him, Kallen punches in the numbers into the device, waiting for someone on the other end to pick up. A crackle from the other end causes Kallen to grab the slender handle of the corded phone with both hands, excitement causing them to tremble.

"Hello?"

"Tamaki!" She never thought she'd be bubbling with such animated feelings as the usually drunk member answers her call.

* * *

"Do you have any terms?"

"Only a favor. One favor." The girl responds in a dry tone. Ciel, beside him, his eyes dilated yet narrowed in distrust, stares at the girl who suddenly appeared in their receptacle. "Other than that, if you choose to accept, you'll receive such powers beyond human capabilities." she explains. Lelouch turns to Ciel, who seems to lose interest.

"I accept." Lelouch breathes. The girl nods, and then sits down, cross-legged in front of them. "Is that it?"

"Yes. That is all. All you have to do is look in the eye of a person, and see what happens. It's different for every user. The power is always changing." she begins, her tone remaining expressionless. "What is it that you wish to accomplish? It takes much courage to accept."

"I will kill him. I'll have Schneizel's head in my hands. _It's all his fault that I'm here."_ Lelouch grinds his teeth together. The anger within him that was once extinguished after the time in his cell, is now reignited at the thought of his dear. Older. Brother.

"And you, boy, why are you here?"

"My name is Ciel." he replies in a bitter, yet uncaring tone. "I'm here because..." Ciel's head snaps upwards. "I just am." he replies nastily. The slender female doesn't reply. "Why are you wearing a straightjacket?"

"Clovis decided that it was the best to keep me restrained this way." _Clovis._ Lelouch might not hold much hatred against his blonde brother, but over the years, his mind manipulated him into hating all Britannians. Britannia will burn.

"Whoa, hey, girl, what are you doing in here?" A voice alarms the three of them, and a soldier that entered the room, comes towards them.

"You!" Lelouch stares up, his eyes widening as he claps eyes with the soldier. "I command you to free us, and shoot any other soldiers in the way!"

"Yes sir!" Lelouch snickers as the bullets the soldiers fired easily shatters the corroded shackles that restrained him and Ciel.

Britannia will feel his wrath.

* * *

I ended that on a cheesy note. Why?

Because I felt like it.

Lel. I usually hate cliches though.


End file.
